First lady taking new role in stride

Jeanette Herbert paused for a moment at the door leading to the second-floor balcony of the Governor's Mansion while giving a tour of her new home.

The last time Utah's new first lady had stepped out to enjoy the sweeping view of the Salt Lake valley and surrounding mountains, she had set off an alarm that sent security scrambling.

"Oh, well," Herbert shrugged as she turned the knob and motioned for her guests to follow. "If the alarm goes off again, we'll just deal with it."

That's the kind of easygoing attitude Herbert brings to her new role, assumed when her husband, former Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert, took over as governor last month.

Take her new title of first lady. Asked if she prefers to be addressed as "first lady" or "Mrs. Herbert," she said that using her first name is just fine.

"I'm kind of a Jeanette person, to be honest with you," Herbert said. "I'm pretty low-key."

Good thing, because she didn't have a lot of time to prepare for her new position. It was mid-May when now-former Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. called the Herbert home in Orem with the news he was taking a post as U.S. ambassador to China.

That came as a surprise to the Herberts, just as it did to the rest of Utah. Suddenly, what until then had only been a hoped-for move into the governorship three years from now was about to happen.

"Even though Gary was planning on running the next time, the next time was 2012," the first lady said.

Now, the governor will have to run next year for the remainder of Huntsman's term.

"That's probably the hardest thing, just getting into office and having to jump into campaign mode," the first lady said. Campaigning "is not my favorite thing. I like shaking hands. I love being around people. But the public speaking is a work in progress."

One of Herbert's first thoughts when she heard her husband would soon become governor, she recalled, was that they'd just started enlarging their family room.

The governor and his wife are keeping their Orem home and hope to spend at least weekends there with their growing family — six children and soon to be 10 grandchildren, all of whom live in Utah County.

The mansion's second-floor living quarters, off limits to tour groups, is starting to feel more like home, she said.

The first couple spent their first night there just over a week and a half ago and are slowly moving in clothes and other necessities.

"I grab armloads of clothes and a few boxes of things," from her Orem home every time she heads to the mansion, Herbert said. The master bedroom's large walk-in closet is already filling up and there are personal touches on the pair of desks the Herberts have set up in the living room.